Today's News

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For a Super Bowl with so many story lines, this game came up with quite a twist.

Try a blackout that turned a blowout into a shootout — capped by a brilliant defensive stand.

The Baltimore Ravens survived a frenzied comeback by the San Francisco 49ers following a 34-minute delay in the third quarter for a power outage Sunday night, winning their second championship 34-31. Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco threw three first-half touchdown passes, Jacoby Jones ran back the second-half kickoff a record 108 yards for a score, and star linebacker Ray Lewis' last play fittingly was part of a defensive effort that saved the victory.

But on Friday, he made his first trip to the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a U.S. Senator.

“We talked about cleanup and a number of issues related to my committees,” Heinrich said in a brief phone interview Friday. We went through some budgetary issues and covered a broad spectrum of issues associated with the lab today.

Geyer was up 13-0 heading into the final moments of the championship, but nearly got caught and put on his back in the late seconds before getting out of his sticky situation and holding on to win.

The gold bracket at the Robertson tournament, which included 25 teams, proved a tough one for the Hilltoppers. They would pick up just one more top six finish with Brian Geyer grabbing fourth at 180 pounds.

Brian Geyer, who was also sick, gutted his way through to the championship semifinals until his illness took its toll and he had little left for the rest of the tournament.

Los Alamos head coach Bob Geyer said he was hoping for a better overall showing from his team, but Los Alamos saw the level of competition he thought it would seed.

“I don’t want any quick pins,” he said. “I want tough matches that are going to get us better.”

On the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos campus, big things are happening. The campus’ advisory board is at hard of work on its plans for the future, most notably the expansion of some programs and the introduction of some new ones.

All this is happening in spite of a challenging economy and in the face of declining state funding. Figures show state funding for the Los Alamos campus has gone down by 40 percent recently, making the goals of the board even more challenging.

In the middle of this is this month’s UNM-LA Advisory Board election, where the board will fill three open seats. The election is Tuesday, and those interested in voting can do so either at the White Rock Fire Station or at the Community Building in Los Alamos.

Three seats are open but only one is contested. That race is between UNM-LA Advisory Board three-term (12 years) incumbent Ronald M. Dolin and challenger Michelle K. Hall.

Micheline Devaurs is unopposed and Nelson Hoffman is being replaced by John Hofmann. The other members of the board, Stephen T. Boerigter, chair and Linda Hull, secretary, have terms that run until 2015.

Nuclear watchdog groups met in Livermore, Calif., this week to discuss a federal proposal they say would allow the transport weapons-grade plutonium from Los Alamos to California.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico’s Jay Coghlan, who was on the panel, said he and Tri-Valley CAREs Executive Director Marylia Kelley were in Washington D.C. to discuss the plan with Don Cook, the head of NNSA Defense Programs.

“We stand behind the fact this plan indeed exists, which NNSA now seems to be backpedaling from,” Coghlan said.
Kelley told the San Jose Mercury News that although no plan has been formalized, the idea has been discussed by U.S. Department of Energy officials and in documents from the National Nuclear Security Administration.

“There’s no question that this is the proposal,” Kelly told the newspaper. “What would be the fair thing to say is that the final decision hasn’t been made.”

NNSA spokesman Joshua McConaha said such a plan does not exist for now.

Record revenues and visitation at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in 2012 highlighted a year of recovery and restoration.

The numbers are detailed in the Valles Caldera Trust’s Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011 through Sept. 30, 2012).

The report details the challenges and successes of 2012, reviews the historical accomplishments and progress made from 2008-2012 and presents the outlook for fiscal year 2013.

One development involved the appointment of Dennis Trujillo as executive director. Trujillo has been with the trust since its inception and served as Valles Caldera National Preserve manager during the formative stages of the organization.

“This (2012) was a year of transition,” Trujillo said. “We recognized that in order to be successful we had to transition from interim management to a cohesive, comprehensive management plan. We began that phase with the development and implementation of a Strategic Management Plan last spring.”

SANTA FE – Is the GOP dead? Not on your life. Yes, demography and Barack Obama’s campaign machine are creeping up on Republicans. But before I get into the whys, I want to talk about the whats.
Remember the aftermath of the 2008 elections? The Obama war machine, also called a ground game, swept many candidates into office. Democrat Harry Teague even won New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional district. Democrats had control of top state and national offices.
There were so many Republican defeats just four years ago that many in my business were writing the party’s epilogue. There was no foreseeable way for Republicans to come back.
Until six months later, that is. In the summer of 2009, Obama started talking about health care and everything turned around. And in the 2010 elections, Democrats lost heavily up and down the ballot.
It was the perfect time for Republicans to win. They got to redesign state and national legislative and congressional districts. It has been said that had Republican legislators not have redesigned congressional districts; Democrats would have taken back control of the U.S. House in 2012.

Parcells reversed the fortunes of four teams — New York Giants, New England Patriots, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys — during 19 years as a head coach. He finished with a record of 172-130-1, leading the Giants to a pair of Super Bowl titles.